Open scholarship is inclusive of all the ways in which scholars communicate their work that is free to access. While traditionally this has been through journal articles and books, it also includes research data, teaching materials, conference proceedings, and more.

Why open? To provide equitable access to scholarship for everyone who wants it rather than having it locked behind paywalls or other obstructions. Also, open licenses allow authors to keep the rights to their own work so that they may use it in their teaching and distribute it as they see fit. Open access publishing allows for the work to have a greater impact and accumulate more citations from other scholars who are using your work to inform theirs.